GREGA RUS, double bass
NADJA RUS, piano

RANNVEIG MARTA ŠARC, violin

Programme

F. Schubert: Sonata in A minor “Arpeggione”, D 812
S. Rachmaninov: Vocalise

J. S. Bach: Sonata for Solo Violin No 1 in G minor, BWV 1001
E. Ysaÿe: Sonata for Solo Violin No 5 in G major, Op. 27
F. Kreisler: Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice for Solo Violin, Op. 6

Grega Rus, born in 1994, is currently a second-year student in the Strings Department at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. Last year he won a gold plaque at the Svirél International Music Competition, while this year he took first prize and a gold plaque at the TEMSIG (Young Musicians of Slovenia) competition. Earlier successes at the same competition include a first prize and a special prize for the best performance of a compulsory piece in 2012. In April 2013 Grega took part in the International String Competition in Niš, winning first prize in his category. He is also a winner of the Škerjanec Prize, awarded by the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet to the most gifted students. This year he began performing as a duo with his sister, the pianist Nadja Rus, and he is also a member of the double bass quintet Bass Chorus. He has played with the Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Slovene Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra and the Maribor Festival Orchestra.

A year older than her brother Grega, pianist Nadja Rus is currently a third-year student at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, where she is studying under Hinko Haas.
In 2004 in 2006 she took part in the Concorsi Internazionali di Musica della Val Tidone in Italy, on both occasions receiving a bronze plaque and third prize. In both 2006 and 2007 she won silver plaques at an international competition in Trieste. That same year she took first place and a gold award at the regional TEMSIG competition for the Ljubljana and Zasavje region, before going on to win a silver plaque at the national competition, a feat she repeated in 2010.
Since 2010 Nadja Rus has been performing in a piano duo with Neža Koželj. In 2011 they won a gold plaque, first prize and a prize for the best performance of a piece by a Slovene composer at the national TEMSIG competition. They repeated their success at last year’s competition. In September this year they appeared as soloists with the Orchestra of the Slovene National Theatre Maribor and performed Francis Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra.
Nadja Rus regularly attends international summer schools and seminars with renowned piano teachers.

Rannveig Marta Šarc was born in Ljubljana in 1995. She began studying the violin at the age of four at the Tartini Music Studio with teacher Vildana Repše. In 2006 she moved to Reykjavik (Iceland), where she enrolled at the Reykjavik College of Music and attended masterclasses and courses by renowned violinists such as Grigory Kalinovsky, Pinchas Zukerman, Patinka Kopec, Mimi Zweig and Ilya Kaler.
She has won numerous prizes, for example at the international Young Virtuosi competition in Zagreb, Slovenia’s national TEMSIG competition and the competition for young soloists organised by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
As a soloist she has played with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of the Reykjavik College of Music and is due to make her solo debut with the Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra early next year, with a performance of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 1.
She is a keen chamber musician and has participated in several international courses, including the Branimir Slokar Academy, the Young Artists Program in Ottawa and the Heifetz International Music Institute, named after the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz. She is currently studying with Laurie Smukler at the world-famous Juilliard School in New York.

Photos